Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan was originally from Taravari, a town in Karnal district, but he had taken up permanent residence in Patiala where he was employed as an assistant surgeon. He had been a disciple of Hazrat Mirza since his student days in the Medical College of Lahore, a period of approximately 20 years, i.e., a period even predating Hazrat Mirza’s claim of being the Promised Messiah. From the time he was a student, he claimed that he saw true dreams, and received revelations. The nature and quality of these dreams and revelations is best known to God or perhaps to Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan himself. However, he was not a very devout or practicing Muslim.
During a visit to Patiala in 1903, I had the opportunity to meet him. I learned from Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan’s neighbors and acquaintances that he was not especially observant of his religious duties. He did not perform his daily prayers with any regularity and would often just pray if somebody came to meet him. By temperament, he was haughty, selfish, and given to fits of anger.
People, including Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan’s own relatives, often complained about his behavior. Maulvi Muhammad Abdullah, a professor atMahinder College in Patiala, was of the opinion that Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan was mentally unbalanced. In fact, one of Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan’s brothers was psychotic.
A discussion of dreams and revelations
The thought may perhaps cross someone’s mind here as to the signifi- cance of the dreams of a person whose actions belie hisfaith. So I consider it appropriate to mention that merely to see dreams or to receive a revelation does not constitute evidence that a person has closeness to Allah. God has endowed every individual with latent senses through which a person can see and hear speech from a world beyond the physical.
This natural ability has been granted to a lesser or greater degree to all individuals. However, some people are so engrossed in affairs of the temporal world that this ability remains latent and undeveloped. But one cannot deny the presence of these senses that are part of the innate nature of man. So the seeing of a dream or the receipt of a revelation is just a manifestation of this natural ability. If a person’s mind is not fully protected against satanic thoughts and influences then the dreamsand revelations may be the result of satanic influence.
There are times in the lives of ordinary people when the motivation to do good is dominant, and there are other times when theincitement to do evil has the upper hand. Thus the inner sanctum of man is sometimes home to the Beneficent and sometimes home to Satan.
When the human heart is the sanctum of the Beneficent, the dreams and revelations will have a Divine origin. But when the heart is the sanctum of Satan, the dreams and revelations will be diabolical in nature. Unless the influence of the devil is completely purgedthrough perfect faith and righteous action, and the soul reaches the stage of perfection, as is the case with prophets and saints, it cannot be said with certainty regarding the dreams, visions and revelations of a person whether they are from the Beneficent even if there are signs and symbols that indicate a Divine origin.
If the requisite purity is not there and the inner sanctum of a person is not fully protected against the coming and going of Satan, then there is always the ever present danger of a dream or revelation being from Satan, particularly at times when a person is under the influence of physical desires whose initiator is Satan.
For example when a person’s mind is possessed of arrogance and conceit, or one is overwhelmed with anger and hate, then what- ever dream or revelation that is experienced will of necessity have a satanic influence. For this reason, not much importance can be attached to a favorable or antagonistic dream or revelation unless a person totally clears his mind of all emotions of love and hate and supplicates with full concentration.
I have earlier written about Elahi Baksh, the author of Asa-i-Musa (The Rod of Moses).1 Initially his revelations about HazratMirza were very favor- able, but when Hazrat Mirza cautioned him about excessive reliance on his dreams and revelations because thepurification of his soul had not reached the stage achieved by the saints of the community, he was very angry and grief stricken. His pride inflated his status in his own eyes, and Satan who was still lurking at the door of his inner sanctum initiated a series of satanic inspirations and his dreams turned into reflections of his own grandeur, and the disparagement of Hazrat Mirza.
The fate of Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan was similar.
Precisely for this reason, Hazrat Mirza used to advise people in his Organization who paid undue attention to dreams and revelations that in the Hereafter God would not inquire of them regarding the number of dreams seen and revelations received, but wouldcertainly ask them about the deeds they had performed.
So Hazrat Mirza’s advice to his disciples was to focus on the purification of the soul and righteous deeds and not to gochasing after dreams.
In 1906, I was present in Hazrat Mirza’s company when a letter was presented to him in which a person hadwritten his dream and asked for its interpretation. In his dream, the person had seen that he had become the vicegerent of God, andthat Gabriel and all the angels had prostrated to him.
Hazrat Mirza dictated the following reply: “Ask repeatedly for Allah’s pro-tection. Satan is exploiting your conceit to lead you astray. It was Satan and his progeny that prostrated before you, taking you for a consummate rogue.” Eventually Hazrat Mirza wrote a book titled Haqiqat-ul-Wahy (The Reality of Revelation) for the guidance ofsuch people. In this book, Hazrat Mirza shed light on the spiritual status that must be achieved before it can be said that a person’sdream or revelation is from Allah, totally unadulterated by any pollution from satanic inspiration or self motivation.
Eavesdropping (Istiraq Sama)
I consider it appropriate to mention another thing here. The Holy Quran states: “And certainly the devils inspire their friends…”(6:121). The meaning is that those who have a connection with devils are prone to receiving revela- tions from them.
It also appears from the Holy Quran that when God’s revelation is broadcast in the spiritual world and the angels learn about it, the devils too hear about itfrom here and there, and at times inspire that true infor- mation into the hearts of their human friends. This strategy provides the devils withan opportunity to further lead their misguided friends astray by boosting their ego and making them think that they are saintly, therebyconfirming them in their wrong beliefs and impure actions.
This is Satan’s most effective ruse. Pilfering the information of the angels inthis manner is referred to in the terminology of the Quran as istiraq sama (eavesdropping). However, prophetic revelation (wahynubuwwat) and the revelation of Divine law (wahy shariah) which, in the terminology of the Quran, constitute the kitab (The Book) are God’s official revelations.
They are fully secure from eavesdropping (istiraq sama), being protected by a guard of angels as mentioned inthe Holy Quran: “For surely He makes a guard to go before him and after him” (72:27). The Hadith too provides evidence that the HolyProphet at times saw the angels that were guarding the revelation when the Quran was being revealed.
Reasons for Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan’s repudiation
Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan was a prolific writer. Oft and on, he would publish a magazine called Zikr-al-Hakim (Narrations of Hakim) in which he would also write about his revelations and dreams. During those days, what- ever dreams he had and whateverrevelations he allegedly received were in
support of Hazrat Mirza. Once he published about an opponent of Hazrat Mirza that he would die of the plague because of his opposition to Hazrat Mirza, and indeed, he died of the plague. After this, he started thinking high- ly of himself, and became increasingly proud of his knowledge. This is a dangerous stage where many stumble.
Hazrat Syed Abdul Qadir Gilani has also written about this. Once he saw a light in a vision and heard a voice coming out of it which said: “O Abdul Qadir! You have worshipped us so much that we exempt you henceforth from saying your daily prayers.”
Syed AbdulQadir Gilani replied, “I know that the speaker is Satan. When Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did notreceive any exemption from offering the daily prayers, who am I to receive such an exemption?” Thereupon the light morphed into dark-ness, and the Satan said with a sigh, “O Abdul Qadir! This is the stage at which I have caused thousands of people to stumble, but yourknowledge has saved you.”
At this, Syed Abdul Qadir Gilani responded: “I have been saved by the grace of God, and not by myknowledge.” This was a two pronged attack by Satan, who tried to engender conceit first on the basis of worship and second on the basisof knowledge. However, God saved the Syed from both kinds of arrogance. Syed Abdul Qadir Gilani was a chosen one of God – a perfect saint. In contrast, poor Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan was neither knowledgeable, nor devout, nor strictly observant of religion.
Instead, an exaggerated sense of self-importance, extraordinary pride and excessive reliance on dreams defined his character.
This combination made him an ideal candidate to fall into Satan’s trap. A number of othercontributory factors facilitated his entrapment. He cut back on his visits to Qadian; virtually cut-off contact with the local Ahmadiyya chapter and embarked on writing a commentary of the Quran with very little knowledge of religion and Arabic.
Whatever he knew was very superficial, but nevertheless he was exultant and proud of his knowledge. When he had finished writing the commentary, he had it printed and came to Qadian to present it to Hazrat Mirza. His arrogance led him to believe that Hazrat Mirza would be captivated by his commentary and Maulana Nur-ud-Din would be singing its praises as well.
But when Hazrat Mirza listened to some of the commentary from different portions of the Quran, he was not pleased and remarked, “There is no spirituality in it.” The reason was thatthe commentary was heavily influenced by the philosophy of naturalism (naturi).2
The entire presentation on the death of Jesus had beenplagiarized from the book Asl-e-Musaffa authored by Mirza Khuda Baksh.
When Maulana Nur-ud-Din scrutinized Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan’s commentary, he remarked: “There are an inordinate amount ofmistakes in it. There are errors in the text of the Quran, errors in the translation, and errors in the commentary as well.” Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan was both conceited and bad-tempered.
Instead of admitting his errors and seeking Allah’s protection, he went back in a huff. His visits to Qadianeven before this incident were few and far between. After this incident, he stopped coming to Qadian altogether. Thus he completelydeprived himself of the blessings that ensued by spending time in Hazrat Mirza’s company. Elders have a saying that opposing the saintshas the effect of rendering one’s faith profitless, and Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan now grad- ually started adopting a hostile stance. Finally, thingsreached the stage where, in his enthusiasm to oppose Hazrat Mirza, Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan embraced the belief that just belief in God andthe Judgment Day was sufficient for a per- son’s salvation; belief in the Prophet and the Book (Quran), according to him, was redundant. In other words, Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan’s assertion was that belief only in the first half of the Muslim confession of faith, the kalimah, whichstates, “There is no god but Allah,” is sufficient, and there is no need for the sec- ond part which states: “Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan subsequently wrote a letter to Hazrat Mirza, expressing this belief, and also presented this belief in hismagazine Zikr-al-Hakim Vol. 4 as follows:
The entire Quran resounds with the praise of Allah and declares belief in the Unity of God and the purification of the soul as themeans of sal- vation, and not belief in Muhammad or the Messiah.
Hazrat Mirza pointed out that this belief was erroneous, and directed Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan to repent. But Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan was adamant in this belief, and started a debate through correspondence. The ultimate result was that this man became increasingly haughty and impudent in his disputation. His harsh temper got the better of him in this correspondence, and he malignedHazrat Mirza, and expressed his disgust with him.
Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan expelled from the Ahmadiyya Organization
Hazrat Mirza then expelled Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan from the Organization through an announcement on May 3, 1906. HazratMirza stated therein:
Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan, assistant surgeon Patiala, who was previously in this Movement, has now turned aside from our teachings and from affairs that God has manifested to us. Not only that, he, in fact, employed such harsh words, showed such impudence, and used such vile and loathsome words regarding my person as could only emanate from the tongue and pen of a bitter and malicious enemy.
He did not just stop at this, but unreasonably slandered me, and in clear words called me corrupt, selfish, a glutton, and an embezzler. Merely out of arrogance, he tried to trample meunder his feet and abuse me with lan- guage as is used only by such opponents who in the full heat of opposition desire their opponent’s disgrace and defamation in every way possible.
At the end of this announcement, Hazrat Mirza stated:
So I caution all members of my Organization to completely sever rela- tions with him. They should have no connection with him under any circumstance. Such a person shall absolutely not belong to my Organization. “Our Lord, decide between us and ourpeople with truth, and Thou art the Best of Deciders” (7:89). Amen. Amen. Amen.
Written correspondence with Maulana Nur-ud-Din
After this, Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan started correspondence with Maulana Nur-ud-Din and forcefully asserted his belief that it was only nec- essary to believe in God and the Day of Judgment to achieve salvation; belief in any scripture or prophet was not necessary. Maulana Nur-ud-Din pub- lished a highly cogent and sensible response in Badr on May 30, 1906. He proved with reference to Quranic verses that those who make a distinction between their belief in Allah and his prophets are disbelievers. Maulana Nur- ud-Din tried hisbest to make him understand but Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan had lost all sense of propriety in his rage and anger. His effrontery grew and was further fueled by his study of the books of Hazrat Mirza’s opponents. After this sparring, Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan felt he was fully ready to take on Hazrat Mirza, his mission and his Organization.
Articles and lectures against Hazrat Mirza
As part of this campaign, Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan began writing articles in support of his erroneous belief and in opposition toHazrat Mirza for pub- lication in various newspapers such as Ahl-e-Hadith of Amritsar and Paisa Akhbar of Lahore. The publishers of these newspapers were so charged with malice and hatred towards the Ahmadiyya Movement, that despite Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan’s belief that was opposed to Islam, as mentioned earlier, they readily continued to publish his articles.
Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan next resolved to destroy Hazrat Mirza and his mission. To this end, he embarked upon a series of lecturesthat took him to the cities of Patiala, Lahore, Amritsar, and several others where he gave lectures denouncing Hazrat Mirza.
In these lectures, he prophesiedthat Hazrat Mirza would perish within three years. He then published a magazine entitled Al- Masih-ul-Dajjal in which he first declaredHazrat Mirza to be Dajjal (Antichrist) and then hurled abuses at him to his heart’s content and fully vented his anger. He wrote another letter to Maulana Nur-ud-Din, in which he listed Hazrat Mirza’s shortcomings and stated that God had informed him on July 12, 1906 that this man (Hazrat Mirza) would die within three years of this date.
May God be With the Truthful
In response, Hazrat Mirza published an announcement titled: May God be With the Truthful, in which he wrote:
Most people will be aware that Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan, who had been one of my disciples for approximately 20 years, has recently rebelled against me and has become a staunch opponent. In his magazine Al- Masih-ul-Dajjal, he has called me a liar, deceitful, Satan, Dajjal (Antichrist), mischievous, embezzler…
There is no fault that he has not ascribed to me. He did not stop at this either, but went on a tour of the major cities of Punjab to lecture on my (alleged) shortcomings. In Lahore, Amritsar, Patiala and other towns, he attributed all sorts of vices to me in public gatherings.…
Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan did not stop at this either; instead at every lec- ture, he prophesied before hundreds of people that God hadrevealed to him that this person (Hazrat Mirza) will perish within three years and his (Hazrat Mirza’s) life will come to an end because he is a liar and fabricator.
I was patient in the face of these prophecies. But today, on August 14, 1906, my learned andrespected friend, Maulvi Nur-ud-Din received a letter from Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan, in which he has written, after listing my many (alleged) defects and after directing much abuse at me, that: “On July 12, 1906 God has informed me of the death of this person; that within three years from this date, he will die.” Now that matters have reached this stage, I see no harm in publishing whatGod has manifested to me about him.
Accordingly, at the end of this announcement, Hazrat Mirza wrote the reve- lation that he had received regarding Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan:
Those accepted by God manifest signs and examples of His acceptance, and they are known as the princes of peace. No one canovercome them. The drawn sword of the angels is before you. But you did not recognize the time; did not see it; did not knowit. O Lord, make a distinction between the truthful person and the liar. You see every reformer and truthful one.
Explanation of the revelation
This revelation that Hazrat Mirza received regarding Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan is worthy of contemplation. At its end is the revealed prayer: “O Lord, make a distinction between the truthful person and the liar. You see every reformer and truthful one.”
So what is that difference and distinction? Unfortunately, many people consider the distinction to be the death of the liar within the lifetime of the truthful one. This is not correct. It is not necessary that the liar will die in the lifetime of the truthful one. Musailma Kazzab (The Liar), for example, did not die within the lifetime of the Holy Prophet, but the Holy Prophet died within his lifetime.
So this is not the right method to distinguish between the truthful person and the liar. But this kind of separa- tion and distinction is valid in the case of a prayer duel (mubahalah). In a prayer duel, the opposing parties pray for the death of the liar. After such a prayer duel (mubahalah), it isnecessary for the liar to die within the lifetime of the truthful one.
However, if such a prayer duel (mubahalah) has not taken place, thenthe death of one party in the lifetime of the other is not a criterion for distinction. Hazrat Mirza himself did not write anywhere that Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan would perish during his lifetime. In fact, Hazrat Mirza once expressed his displeasure about using such a criterion by stating: “Ask the people who raise such objection as to where have I written that the liar shall die within the lifetime of the truthfulperson?” (Al-Hakam, dated October 10, 1907).
Since a prayer duel (mubahalah) never took place between Hazrat Mirza and Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan, therefore the criterion that the liar shall die within the lifetime of the righteous is inapplicable. In this situation, the applicable criterion is the one provided at the beginning of the revelation received by Hazrat Mirza:
- Those accepted by God manifest signs and examples of His acceptance. Explanation: The signs and examples of His acceptance are that these people are imbued with Divine morals. God accepts their prayers, and they receive abundant knowledge of the unseen. God’s assistance is always with them. Their sensible teachings and spirituality attract the hearts and minds of people having a righteous disposition. In the end, they are successful and honored in this world and in the Hereafter.
- They are known as the princes of peace. No one can overcome them. Explanation: Peace and tranquility can reign in the world only through the acceptance of their teachings, guidance and governance. They give the message of peace to the world, and no attack can obliterate their message and work. They triumph over every difficulty andevery enemy.
- The drawn sword of the angels is before you. Explanation: This means that no enemy can harm them a whit through their attacks and assaults. Angels stand guard over them asthey are the accepted ones of God and they cannot be obliterated despite assaults by the enemies because God provides protection for them through His angels.
- But you did not recognize the time; did not see it; did not know it; Explanation: This means that if you had been wise, youwould have understood that this was the time for a Reformer (mujaddid) to arrive, and not for an Antichrist (Dajjal). Islam wasunder attack, morning and evening, by hundreds of Antichrists. So was it not imperative that God should send a truthful Reformer?Or was it the time for the appearance of a Dajjal? If this was so, then it was a strange way of fulfilling God’s promise regardingIslam given in the following verse: “Surely We have revealed the Reminder, and surely We are its Guardian” (15:9). When Islamwas surrounded on all sides by enemies instead of assisting Islam by sending a powerful aider and a sincere reformer, Godsent a Dajjal? What an absurd idea!
The criteria judge Hazrat Mirza as righteous and Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan as a falsifier
Thus, these God-revealed criteria are the true measures with which to judge, and it was in accordance with these criteria that God judged between Hazrat Mirza and Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan. Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan could not even dream of the acceptance that wasgranted to Hazrat Mirza. The excellent qualities of Hazrat Mirza — his admirable morals, outstanding righteousness, piety and purity, supplications that were answered, hundreds of prophecies, God’s support and assistance at every step, highly rational and spiritual teach-ings, respect among righteous people, Divine protection against enemy attacks, success and progress of mission, etc. — are matters that are evident like the brightness of the day.
In contrast, Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan’s record is dismal. One can read his commentary of the Holy Quran, or his magazine Zikr-al-Hakim, or his tract Al-Masih-ul-Dajjal, and it immediately becomes obvious that they are just naturalist ideas, self-praise and deprecation of Hazrat Mirza. It is easy to see that these literary endeavors are just the ranting of an angry,abusive person who is venting out his frustration. Then the poor man did not have any success in the mission that consumed the rest of his life.
He had enthusiastically embarked on the mission to obliterate Hazrat Mirza and his organization. For this purpose, he toured andlectured in many cities, wrote magazines, cast maledictions and did everything else he could, but God blessed Hazrat Mirza’s missionwith exponential growth and Hazrat Mirza’s popularity continued to increase daily. In contrast, Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan kept descendinginto the abyss of obscurity.
Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan traversed the length and breadth of India with his Quranic commentary of which he was so proud and which was the cause of his estrangement, but it did not gain popularity anywhere.
He went to the annual gathering of the Muhammadan Educational Conference in Aligarh and related his plaintive story there, and had a public announcement made about his Quran commentary, but nobody paid any attention there either. As long as he was delivering his lectures in various cities maligning HazratMirza, the clerics opposing Hazrat Mirza lauded him, but as soon as he fin- ished his lecture tours, they lost all interest in him. No one even enquired about the identity of the person who had gone hither and thither maligning Hazrat Mirza and blackening his own book of deeds. Then he disappeared into such abysmal obscurity that no one knew where this man went.
I was posted in Karnal where after diligent enquiries and with great difficulty I was able to find out that Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan was suffering from tuberculosis, and eventually he died of the disease. Although his death occurred after Hazrat Mirza’s death, buttruth be told he had died even when he was physically alive for he had been cast out of people’s hearts and minds, and even his memory had been erased long before his physical death.
I have never seen anyone pass into such oblivion when alive. “So take a lesson, O youwho have eyes” (59:2).
In the failure, ill fortune and death of Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan, there is both a great sign and a great lesson. Dr. Abdul Hakim Khanhad published in his magazine Ailaan-ul-Haq Number 7, one of his revelations which stated: “Mirza has died of a pulmonary disease.”As God would have it, Hazrat Mirza did not die of a pulmonary disease, but this man, Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan, did.
In effect, his prophecy reverted back and came to fruition on him as a punishment. He had also prophesied in his magazine Ailaan-ul-Haq that Mirza’s root has been uprooted from its foundation, and had published a revelation about himself that: “You will succeed.” All glory is to Allah! That man himself was completely uprooted, while God blessed Hazrat Mirza with success. Thus his prophecies about Hazrat Mirza reverted backon him as punishments.
Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan’s prophecy was not a prophecy at all
It is true that Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan had said that he had received revelation that Hazrat Mirza would die within three years ofJuly 12, 1906. Then again on July 1, 1907, he had announced that Hazrat Mirza would pass away within fourteen months.
But calling these announcements as prophecies is a grave mistake because eight months prior to both prophecies, Hazrat Mirza himself had published the prophecy that his death was fast approaching. Hazrat Mirza had announced that very few days of his life were now left, and his time of death was verynear. Is it not true that Hazrat Mirza had published and widely disseminated his final will and testament on December 20, 1905 in which he had included over a dozen revelations that very few days of his life were left? For example, the following revelations clearly indicating Hazrat Mirza’s demise were part of the will:
- Your destined end is nigh.
- Very few days are left.
- On that day, sadness shall envelope all.
Then Hazrat Mirza had seen in a vision that he had been given water in a new earthen pot. There were only two or three gulps of water left in the pot. The water was very clear and pure.
Simultaneously, he had a revelation: “The water of life.” That is, only two or three gulps of the water of life were remaining. The two or three gulps later proved to be two or three years. Thus, in the vision, one year of life was shown as one gulp of water. Hazrat Mirza had written his final will and testament on the basis of these revelations, had it published, and had the arrangements in his will put into operation so that there were no problems afterwards.
It is quite meaningless in the light of the above for a person to boast that he has had a revelation that Hazrat Mirza would die within three years.
When someone has himself written and published that his time of death was very near and that there were only two or three gulps of the water of his life left, then there is no prophetic information in the statement of another person who eight months later essentially repeats the same thing. Such a repetition does not constitute a prophecy.
Had Hazrat Mirza announced that his time ofdeath was far, and Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan had contradicted this, and said that the time of death was near, and the death had occurred early, then it could have been said that Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan’s prophecy was correct and that of Hazrat Mirza incorrect. However, when Hazrat Mirza is himself saying that his time of death is near and Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan reiterates the same later, then although both the parties are saying the same thing, the prophecy can only be said to be of the one who said it earlier, and that is Hazrat Mirza.
Merely spreading around something that one has heard cannot be called a prophecy. Likewise, to repeat something that has already been published cannot be called providing news about the unseen. If credit was granted for doing this, then virtually anyone could claim to have the gift of prophecy by passing on second-hand news.
There remains the matter of specifying a time limit of three years, and subsequently in 1907, a time limit of fourteen months. Actually, Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan acted with great generosity in providing such lengthy periods because Hazrat Mirza’s own view wasthat the time of his death was much nearer. Accordingly, he had published his last will and testament and had put its operative parts into practice.
It is not difficult to publish a specified time period for the death of a person whose time of demise is imminent, and neither is it sur-prising for such a limit to prove correct. When it has already been announced that the time of demise is near, any reasonable time limit canprove correct. To prescribe a time period of three years and then one year later to state fourteen months as the period of demise is reallyprescribing very generous periods.
However, Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan made one mistake that exposed him. After some time, he gave up on prescribing a time period for the demise and in plain words stated, as reported in the Paisa Akhbar of May 15, 1908: “Mirza shall pass away on Sawan 21, 1965 (corresponds with August 4, 1908) as the result of a fatal disease.” This was the only prophecy that was his very own and it proved to be incorrect as Hazrat Mirza passed away on May 26, 1908. The editor of Paisa Akhbar acknowledged this fact and stated very clearly that if the words in Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan’s prophecy had been “before Sawan 21” instead of “on Sawan 21” then the prophecy would have been correct. The same fact was mentioned by Maulvi Sanaullah in his news- paper Ahl-e-Hadith. After quoting the actual words of Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan’s prophecy, he wrote:
We have to acknowledge the truth and state that had Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan stopped after making the fourteen month prophecy and not gone on to specify a date for Mirza Sahib’s demise, as he did, and as evi- denced by the publication of his revelation that Mirza will die on Sawan 21 i.e., August 4, in the Ahl-e-Hadith issue of May 15, then there would not have been the objection that the respected editor of Paisa Akhbar has made in the issue of his newspaper dated (May) 27 that if the prophecy had been “beforeSawan 21” instead of “on Sawan 21” then the prophecy would have been correct. In short, it would have been better to have left the previous prophecies of demise within three years and then fourteen months at that level of abstraction and not gone on to make aprophecy regarding the specific day of demise. (Newspaper Ahl-e-Hadith, page 7, dated June 12, 1908)
So friend and foe alike acknowledged the fact that this prophecy of Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan turned out to be erroneous. I have previously mentioned the pilfering of information by the devils referred to in the terminology of the Quran as istiraq sama (eavesdropping).
The news regarding the demise of Hazrat Mirza in the near future had been made public and disseminated in both the physical and the spiritual worlds through revelation. Satan had either heard bits and pieces of this news through istiraq sama(eavesdropping) or had made his own conjecture, but in transmitting the information about the period of demise into the heart and mind of Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan, he falsely, as is the wont of Satan, included the precise date of demise of August 4, 1908.
By virtue of being the enemy of man, it is in Satan’s nature to take pleasure in the dis- grace, defeat, abasement and destruction even of men who befriendSatan. In fact, Satan’s sole purpose in befriending man is to disgrace and destroy him.
So the reality of Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan’s prophecy became evident from this single episode. It is absurd to specify a demiseperiod of three years, and a year later to reduce it to fourteen months for a man who has himself declared eight months earlier that the time of his demise is very near.
The demise period prescribed by Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan for Hazrat Mirza after Hazrat Mirza had announced that only a few days of his life remained was long enough for even conjecture to succeed or for a satanic inspiration toprove correct. Only the date of death was a new thing and a new piece of information but that proved incorrect. This goes to show that even the previ- ous predictions were not Divinely inspired, but were either conjectures, or wishful desires, or satanic inspirations.
This episode transpired because Allah wanted to show the distinction between Divine revelations and satanic inspi- rations. Even if Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan had been content with just predicting a time period for the demise, God would certainly have shown Dr. Abdul HakimKhan to be a liar in keeping with His promise to Hazrat Mirza:3
The enemy says that the days of your life are only limited to fourteen months after July of 1907 … I will falsify them and increase your age.
In other words, if Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan had maintained his original prediction of fourteen months for the period of demise, then Allah, the Most High would have increased Hazrat Mirza’s life span to prove him a liar.
However, when Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan went from prescribing a time period to prescribing a specific date for the demise, then it was no longer necessary to increase the life span to prove him a liar. There can be no absurdity or lack of wisdom in any action of God. The incorrect prediction about the date of demise was sufficient to prove Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan a liar, and to distinguish between Divine revelation and satanic inspiration. Amongst Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan’s predictions, the only one that truly represented knowledge of the unseen was the prediction regarding the date of death, and that proved erroneous.
This put a seal on Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan’s revelations as being nothing more than satanic inspirations.
Footnotes
- See The Great Reformer, Volume I, Chapter 116: The Measure of a Virtuous Person.
- naturi from the word nature, refers to the views of the rationalist Muslims in the nineteenth century who held that God could not act in contradiction of the laws of nature. They considered that spiritual phenomena, such as revelation from God, Divine intervention, and acceptance of prayers, could not take place outside the then-known laws of nature. They interpreted such experiences as being not so much objective realities as perceptions of man’s own mind.
- This revelation appeared in one of Hazrat Mirza’s announcements, titled Tabsira, pub- lished in November of 1907.
The Great Reformer 